1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for controlling the power delivered by a static power conversion unit to an inductor, particularly for an induction heating system used in cooking appliance. The present invention relates as well to an induction heating system, particularly for cooking appliances, adapted to carry out such method.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is well known in the art of induction heating systems used in cooking appliances the importance of controlling the power delivered by the inductor, i.e. the induction coil, in order to adjust the cooking temperature or the cooking utensil heating level at a predetermined level. This is usually obtained by modifying the power transistor switching frequency. For an improved cooking performance it is important to sense the cooking vessel's temperature during the whole process. This information could be used e.g. to control the temperature or to monitor the cooking process phase.
EP-A-1732357 discloses an induction heating device in which the pot's temperature variations are monitored by adjusting the power transistor drive frequency throughout the cooking process in the induction heating. According to such document, during the cooking process the static power conversion unit (converter) operates in two ways: during “heating” intervals it controls the frequency in order to guarantee constant power; during “measurement” intervals, it keeps the frequency to a fixed constant value and measures an electrical parameter correlated to the temperature of the pot bottom.
The above known solution needs that the induction converter changes the frequency of the power transistor drive signal. This requires finding at least two suitable frequencies adapted for the pot load. The choice of the frequencies must be done with special care in order to avoid problem of pan detection (in case one of the frequencies is too high) and/or resonance (coil current might be too big, which is dangerous for the induction power components like the insulated-gate bipolar transistor and which may lead to a failure of the whole induction heating system).